Bane of the Uchiha
by JeffC FTW
Summary: With her husband now gone forever, Hanaru and their infant son find themselves tagging along with Sasuke and his ragtag group - but the question now is whether or not he will continue his vendetta, or if he will protect the village in his brother's name. Seventh in the Uchiha Series.


**Latest in the Uchiha oneshot series. With Itachi and the other Shinobi released of the Edo Tensei, Hanaru wakes up now (after spending one last time with her hubby) and finds what he left her and their son before he left for his last mission. She, the baby as well as Sasuke are the last. Now what will happen since her brother-in-law and his team - composed of none other than Suigetsu, Juugo and Orochimaru - come along? Will she stay with them or do what Itachi asked of her, and that was to return to the very same home that the little bastard Sasuke wishes to destroy...or does he still want to?**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Hanaru and baby Ren.**

He was gone when she opened her eyes.

The bed was still warm, but that was because she was in it. His side had creased, but when she rolled into it, she wasn't surprised to find it empty. And her heart felt like it once more when it had been full again - and only for a few days and a moment on this one. She lay there in the bed, on her back, and looked up at the ceiling which she sometimes wished had a mirror just for the hell of it. She recalled one time she asked Itachi if Kakuzu could buy them one - but that would have risked being the butt of kink jokes from the other Akatsuki.

Especially Kisame.

He was dead, her child's godfather. He infiltrated Kumogakure inside Samehada, and in the end, he let himself be devoured by his own jutsu which made her cringe to think about. Now Itachi was gone again - forever this time.

Hanaru found the letters on the vanity when she slipped out of the bed to pick up her fallen robe. Baby Ren was still sleeping; he really was a log. How often did an infant get to be good for their parent? He even continued to sleep as his mother shed tears while reading the letter reserved for her.

 _Don't despair because I am gone, my darling flower. You can smile at the times we were blessed with. I have no regrets choosing you that night, rescuing you, and having you as my soul mate. Your light filled my darkness, prolonged my impending death this long. Destiny cannot prevent a small amount of joy on the way - and speaking of joy, a product of our love was conceived, but he will never know me as well as he will know you. You don't ever have to marry another for the sake of our child, but know that I am with you in spirit. I may see you in your dreams, in your waking hours and the moment you close your eyes. Someday we will reunite. Until then, carry on with life to the fullest, and see our son never becomes like his father._

 _Forevermore, Itachi_

She closed her eyes and held the letter close to her heart. "Rest in peace, my love," she whispered, bringing it to her lips then and kissing it. The other was for their son, which she would keep until he was old enough to understand, but how would it impact him when he would learn his father was a good man forced to be a scapegoat for village elders who thought the old way was reasonable and "for the good of the Leaf"? She didn't want him to turn out like his uncle was now. That meant she needed to find her brother, if Naruto was anything like her husband and Jiraiya had told her. Her _otouto_ could help them, right?

Itachi's necklace lay atop the note, but was it his own or the real one...? If he had been to see his real body, she could imagine the turmoil he was in, being in another form that wasn't his. Hanaru was interrupted from her thoughts at the sound of Ren crying. Standing up after putting the folded letter into the breast of her robe, she walked over to pick him up, noting he needed changing now.

When that was done, she sat back down on the foot of the bed, smiling as he cooed and looked up at her, toothless smile in place. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said softly, kissing his forehead. "We're going to be fine. We're going to leave very soon."

"And go where?"

Oh, the bastard was here at this time, was he? "What do you want, Sasuke?" she hissed, turning her face halfway to glare at him - and then she halted at the sight of the other two she never thought she would see again. "Juugo, Suigetsu!"

The white-haired, sharp-toothed guy snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I'm surprised you'd still be here, but then again, it's not like you ever had a place to go since you married Sasuke's brother -" He was brusquely cut off by the usually mild-mannered Juugo before Sasuke could say something harsher.

"Suigetsu, now isn't a good time."

The last time she saw either of them was when they followed their team leader to Iron Land to infiltrate the damned Gokage Summit, and Karin had been with them. The trio must have been imprisoned when Sasuke left them all with Madara - and the war declared - so the red-haired woman must still be locked up. "How did you two get back here?" Hanaru asked, standing and smoothing her robe, cradling her son in one arm while she went over to the vanity to pick up Itachi's necklace and the note. She wasn't going to leave them here if -

"Oh, it was a piece of cake, that's all," Suigetsu answered suavely. "Then we made way for one of Lord Orochimaru's old hideouts, and we found something that interested Sasuke. Which is why we are here, if you're interested in tagging along with us, lady..."

Something in Hanaru exploded, but while she retained her composure because of her child in hold, she seethed through her teeth. "I knew it, Sasuke. You still want to achieve your precious revenge. If that is the case, count me out. I would rather keep my son safely away from your emotional track, because it's what his father and I both wanted." She turned her back to him and pretended to ignore him, but he saw right through the act.

"Look, you can do whatever you want - what Itachi wanted even - but what I am going to do isn't close to what you think. As soon as I have questions answered, I'll make my decision. Itachi told me everything."

 _Oh, so you know, but you still want to know from someone else?_ The question escaped her lips in exactly those same words. "Who are you going to ask now?" Hanaru sneered, standing back up and turning to look him square in the eyes. She saw no trace of the anger and hate she remembered, but they were still smoky. There was no way she could trust him yet. Itachi told her that his brother was only misguided, and while she agreed, it wasn't enough.

"They are known as the All-Knowing. It requires the breaking of the Reaper Death Seal - the jutsu of the Third and Fourth Hokage."

The person who spoke wasn't her brother-in-law, but another. Hissing and charming like a snake - and the man who appeared from behind the entourage made her freeze in her position. He was paler than a normal human being, almost like a ghost, and he had long black hair like her late husband, but his eyes...they were sinister and yellow. His presence unnerved her to no end. Protectively, she held Ren closer to her, making him whimper, but she wasn't sure if he could sense the scary man before them.

"Who are you?" she demanded, before that sickly smile of his increased with his response.

"Why, you heard Suigetsu."

"...Orochimaru." How - how could he be here? Didn't Sasuke defeat him and absorb him, or something like that? Nothing was even scientifically possible in bringing the dead back to life - _completely as they originally were in life_ \- but absorbing wasn't the same as physical death. "I thought Sasuke defeated and killed you," she spat, making him chuckle.

"You heard correctly, my dear, but I was extracted from none other than Anko, an old student of mine whom Kabuto has used as a link to the jutsu which resurrected your husband and the others." His face fell at the mention of his insubordinate, the man Hanaru knew she hated as much as she hated Madara - and didn't THIS man corrupt Sasuke and made him leave his village and comrades?

Hanaru locked him with an eye-to-eye combat. "You and that other snake - you're equally disgusting. Everything you've done is unforgivable. This jutsu which disrespected my husband and the other Shinobi out there, as you said - and what Kabuto made Itachi do to me will never be forgiven," she spat. It was then she saw the look in his eye that took her off a little. Was he faking that...sympathy?

"I did indeed see that from inside Kabuto." Then a slight smile pulled one corner of his mouth. "But if it makes you a little better, he is still trapped in Itachi's _genjutsu_. You won't have to worry about him any longer. So -" His tongue, long and purple, snaked out to lick his lips. "- are you going to come along or not, Hanaru Uchiha - or should I say, Hanaru _Uzumaki_ Namikaze?"

Why was she not surprised that he knew who her parents were? Sasuke looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking: she was a member of the Uzumaki, a clan with powerful chakra levels and sealing techniques. He wanted to know why she never told him in the first place, but she owed him no explanation. Just as she owed him nothing with his insane, childish quest.

Hanaru looked down at her baby son, who looked over at his uncle and the other men curiously, cooing. Orochimaru looked at him with interest. "Ah...Itachi's son. I see it in his face. His father must be proud." _If you so much as think you're going to use my boy as a test subject -_

Sasuke interrupted him. "Orochimaru, the more we talk here, the longer we delay what's important."

She was relieved when he took control, and they were all on the move away from here and making their way for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was quite the walk, but Juugo had the strength to carry her and the baby. She let him do it since she didn't feel like walking, and he complained nothing. She couldn't even stand Suigetsu, which she shared with Karin, although the redhead was more aggressive than she was.

This was her first time seeing home since she was a toddler. It felt familiar, but so foreign. It made her angrier to know Sasuke wanted to destroy this beautiful village full of not only fellow Shinobi but also innocent civilians who knew nothing. This was what Itachi had fought for, sacrificed his honor and his kin, and he was ashamed that his younger brother whom he spared out of love would want to crush it and throw it in his face.

"This place has...changed so much," was the only good thing she heard him say.

Hanaru found herself thinking back to his corpse still laying in Akatsuki headquarters, without a proper burial but preserved. She would NOT leave him like that, but there was no time. Even before they left, Sasuke got to see his brother's real corpse, but he only closed his eyes as the reaction. Then he insisted they leave.

 _I'll be back for you, Itachi. If not me, then Sasuke. You won't rot here like this._

Along the way, she listened to what Orochimaru would do when they reached none other than the Nakano Shrine of the Uchiha. Just like the rest of the village during Pain's attack, it had been devastated, but the shrine itself underground was intact - except its entrance required special hand signs and seals to be made and released. Only Uchiha were aware of its secrets. This was her first time to be in the grounds of the clan she married into.

Undoing of the Reaper Death Seal required a wearing of the death god's mask, followed by the required hand signs - but that also meant allowing yourself to be possessed by the Reaper and then slicing your own stomach open to release the souls of the ones inside. In addition, Juugo's nature energy was transferred into Sasuke so that six _White Zetsu_ were released; one was absorbed into Juugo while another was for Orochimaru to enter as a new body, and the final four were left to be none other than _Edo Tensei sacrifices._

In place of the four Zetsus were none other than the first four Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Hanaru could hardly suppress a gasp in shock at the sight of them. The first in line was in red armor as if it had come from feudal times, with long, wild dark hair and the same headband of Konoha. His dark eyes were with small white circles, face cracked as the other sign of reanimation. The second's armor was blue, his hair a shock of white, and there were a few red marks - one pair slanting down his cheeks like Itachi's tear troughs, and the third on his chin. His eyes were red circles floating in black irises. _The First and Second Hokage. The First, Hashirama Senju, touted as the God of Shinobi!_

The third was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. Probably looking much older than the previous two even though he had been their student long before she was born, and any of the other young generations. She hadn't seen him since she was a little girl, but he had been kind to her.

 _And...Papa._ Minato Namikaze, her and Naruto's father - the man who saved their village from the Nine-Tailed Fox, and who sacrificed his life when sealing the monster into his newborn son.

The Nidaime, Tobirama Senju, locked his fierce eyes on Orochimaru whom he recognized. "Elder brother," he said through his teeth, "it's the Reanimation Jutsu again. And that Orochimaru again."

"I suspect he undid the Reaper Death Seal that sealed us away," Sarutobi added grimly. "And then he performed the Reanimation Jutsu, as Lord Second stated." Now all eyes were on Minato - _Papa, to see you again,_ Hanaru thought with a wave of emotion, overjoyed and overwhelmed at once - when he spoke of his amazement and enthusiastically asked Orochimaru how he did it, to which the Snake Sannin replied that he spent his time studying the sealing techniques of the nearly extinct Uzumaki clan. This had been one of them, he said.

Hanaru continued to watch with Sasuke and the others, all interested before diving into what her brother-in-law came here for. She wanted so much to talk to her father after hardly knowing him all her life, hearing him and her mother Kushina only from Jiraiya, but the God of Shinobi himself demanded to know who he was, which caused him to sputter before answering, even turning around to show the writing on the back of his cloak.

The guffaw was nothing you'd expect of the god himself. "The Fourth Hokage, huh? Then the village has reigned supreme!"

"Actually," Minato said shyly, "I'm not sure." Now this disappointed the man. "I died and was sealed away much earlier than Sarutobi-sama."

"Then who is the Fifth Hokage?"

Orochimaru had the liberty to answer that. "Your granddaughter, Princess Tsunade," he said matter-of-factly.

At the mention of his granddaughter - his first whom he spoiled rotten and had picked up his gambling habit - Hashirama burst into bouts of proud laughter. _He's not at all what I expected._ Hanaru had to giggle at his antics, which displeased his younger brother, the Nidaime. Sarutobi even couldn't contain it - and did you have to ask her father?

Now the topic switched to the Reanimation Jutsu. "It was you who created it, Lord Second, when you never should have," Orochimaru pointed out, seeming to enjoy this. "It's not at all a complex jutsu. In fact, many of the policies you created caused problems down the line." This angered Tobirama, and he would have struck out if he wasn't being held in place. Sarutobi even stated that he took away his former pupil's arms, sealed away his powers in exchange for the old man's life - and even now he wanted to destroy the Leaf Village like before...but the snake man surprised them all by claiming he had no leaning in that direction anymore, but it was because of _Sasuke._

"I am Sasuke Uchiha," he said, "and I have questions to ask you four Hokage."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes at the revelation that the young man belonged to the Uchiha. "Of course you would stick with a scoundrel like Orochimaru," he sneered, which made his brother turn on him.

"Tobirama, I thought I told you to stop saying things like that!" Hashirama snapped. Even someone with a good sense of humor could get as mad as that.

"You are too soft, elder brother!"

Enough was enough, and the baby started to whimper at the loud voices. "Will you two both be quiet?" Hanaru finally spoke furiously, getting all eyes on her now. "You're making my son upset as well as myself." She snapped her gaze in the direction of Tobirama Senju.

"And who are you, girl, to speak to us like that?"

"Hanaru Uzumaki Namikaze...Uchiha."

A stunned silence cast over the entire room. She swallowed a little at the tension of the eyes on her. When someone finally spoke, it was none other than - "H-Hanaru, it's you!" Minato exclaimed, a broad smile crossing over his face. "My God, you've grown up! Your mother would have been so proud to see you."

Sarutobi even managed a smile of his own. "I haven't seen you since you were a little one, when your parents died. I trust you were well looked after." Hanaru nodded courteously, gently rocking Ren until he settled down and curled his fist into her robe. "You say that is your child?" the Sandaime questioned.

"Yes," she answered.

"But you also say your name is _Uchiha_." _Here we go with you again, Lord Second. I'm not sure I know if I like you or not, but I'll wait until Sasuke asks you anything._ "Does this mean that little one's father is the brat here?" She gritted her teeth, looking at him and about to answer when Sasuke answered in her defense, obviously more pissed than she was.

"No, the boy is my nephew. She was married to my older brother, Itachi Uchiha." His eyes hardened when they looked straight to Sarutobi-sama. "Third Hokage, why did you make Itachi do it?"

"...so, you learned what happened." The old man looked somber and ridden with long-lived guilt at being forced to order the extermination of the Uchiha clan, when it was decided by Danzo and the two counselors.

"Itachi is dead. I killed him to avenge the Uchiha clan. Afterwards, I learned the truth from Danzo and Tobi, and I swore vengeance on the Hidden Leaf - but I want to hear it straight from you."

Sarutobi's eyes were downcast when he gave his answer: not only did he have Itachi kill his brethren, had him bear the false charge of traitor, but also keep tabs on the Akatsuki by himself. Since he had been a child, and even by the age of seven, he paid heed to the details of the teachings of the Leaf's predecessors no one gave heed to. _He was a sensitive child who understood the past and Shinobi._ And if things had been different, he himself could have one day been Hokage. He had always executed his missions perfectly.

He slaughtered his entire clan and stopped a revolt, prevented a coming war all by himself. He had been a spy within the Akatsuki, making sure it never came near his village...all on the condition that Sandaime protect Sasuke, his little brother. "So...it's true then," Sasuke said finally, looking away.

Damn the Nidaime for his continual spite of the Uchiha. "This is all part of the Uchiha clan's cursed fate," he spat. "Though, I can't believe they're on the brink of extinction. And they even plotted a coup d'état? I envisioned it would come to that." He spoke of the rebelliousness bearing Madara Uchiha's will smoldering. All of this was because of the seeds sown with his placing of the Uchiha in charge of the police force. He gave them authority over the monitoring of the criminals because he felt the Uchiha were qualified very well - but that also prevented them from being in the government body. That sparked the seeds of distrust. Hanaru now wished her father had lived, because if he did, he would have made sure the Uchiha were treated equal like the rest of the village.

Hashirama was livid when all of this was revealed. He'd wanted his brother to accept the Uchiha, and things would have been so much different - but as Tobirama pointed out, his soft nature prevented him from seeing Madara's side. And the reason he gave the entire clan the post of police authority, it would have ensured another Madara would never emerge.

"And as you know," he added, "the Uchiha are a clan...possessed by _evil_." Now she was pushed to her limits, and she saw Sasuke was slowly losing it.

"How...dare...you," Hanaru hissed furiously, cradling her son. "Lord Second, you are not only calling my husband an evil man - and he was a good one despite what happened to him - you are lumping my son in that category. And he is only _half_ Uchiha; he also has Uzumaki blood! Who are you to speak such things?" She then allowed a smirk to show. This was a dangerous card to reveal, but she would use now to enjoy it. "Madara Uchiha, the bastard he was, left a hell of a psychological scar on you."

Hashirama burst out into more laughter. "My, Lord Fourth, that's a girl you have there!" Sarutobi suppressed an amused chuckle of his own. Minato simply reached behind his head to rub the back, blushing a little in the cracked cheeks.

"Yeah, she apparently got that from her mother."

Tobirama looked startled that she had to once again speak to him like this. Then his features twisted. "Now, look here, you little slip of a girl -"

"Second Hokage," she interrupted, "if you're as wise as you were said to be, answer my brother-in-law's question instead of focusing on me."

Sasuke didn't need to thank her so much in words. Instead, he focused on Tobirama and asked him what he knew about the Uchiha, why they were possessed by evil - and leave out the obvious facts that the Uchiha and Senju were longtime enemies.

Tobirama's answer was enough to make his older brother close his eyes. It was said that in contrast to the Senju clan who based their strength on love, the Uchiha strength was based on the power of their jutsu...but the truth was different, because the Sharingan was fired by more than just prowess. _No clan feels deeper love than the Uchiha._ Hanaru looked down at her son who had fallen back asleep. But love in the Uchiha had been suppressed and sealed away. Once a member came to know this feeling, it was as if all their previously unchecked emotions were released like a dam - exceeding even the Senju.

"But why is that a problem?" Suigetsu questioned, standing behind Orochimaru. "Isn't this so-called powerful love supposed to make the bond stronger?"

"Indeed, but it can be...problematic," Tobirama said gravely, fixing his gaze back on Hanaru and then Sasuke. "This great power hides within it the possibility of losing control. When Uchiha lose that love, it is replaced by an intense hate that changes them. I've seen it happen quite a few times. Therefore, a special condition emerges from this emotion, particularly within the eyes when an Uchiha writhes in agony over loss and disappointment - hence the Sharingan, also known as 'eyes that reflect the heart'. A man like Madara fits the description I speak of." _And so does Sasuke,_ Hanaru's mind added. "The Sharingan taps into the person's heart and rapidly increases their strength. There were many sensitive people among the Uchiha exposed to such pain, taken to darkness and evil. The deeper the darkness, the greater the threat until it can't be stopped...just like Madara."

 _Madara Uchiha cared intensely about his younger brother - just like Itachi and his own. And Tobirama-sama, you thought you were arranging things to be right, but it only did more harm than good. You saw the Uchiha has a useful benefit instead of an equal. Madara might be a horrid man, but I understand him now. And he had helped Hashirama bring this village to stand on these grounds._

The Senju brothers were once again arguing, Hashirama saying the younger was saying such things to the widow of a good, rare Uchiha as well as to the younger brother of the same man, an "innocent Uchiha child" - and that alone made Sasuke speak up, the Mangekyo flashing and shocking all. "I am neither innocent or a child," he growled. "Now, First Hokage, a question for you."

His new one regarded what it meant to be a village and what a Shinobi was. "My brother, despite having been used by the Leaf Village, still defended it with his life, and died proud he was a Shinobi. What is this village one strives to protect even if it means killing one's family - or one's own death?"

 _And what are Shinobi who created such circumstances, considering them acceptable?_

He was going to listen to the answer before making his decision on whether to declare his vengeance - or to protect it in his brother's name. Hanaru wanted so much to breathe a sigh of relief, but it was still too early. She watched as Hashirama had the look of consideration on his face - then he said that Itachi was an even greater Shinobi than he ever was. The God of Shinobi saying her husband and Sasuke's brother was a greater ninja than he was an honor.

The Fourth Great Ninja War was happening. Madara Uchiha was revived, Orochimaru told him in order to get him to speed his answer. And if he wasn't defeated, he would unleash the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the whole world, where village and Shinobi meant nothing - and he would manipulate everyone's dreams and desires to his own advantage. The present had never been so grim.

Hence Hashirama launched into the story itself, for the best way to start was the beginning: he and Madara met when they were boys, both from long-lived rival clans in a feudal period, but when they first met, it didn't matter but their friendship and unknowing of who they really were...but it all changed one day. As they grew into men, life turned them into the ninja of legends, the Senju and Uchiha ever pitted against each other until one day Madara's younger brother, Izuna Uchiha, was killed by Tobirama. Following this, and both sides weary from the fighting, Hashirama proposed the truce, much to Madara's dismay.

Where had their mutual hatred gone, he asked. What purpose did his brother sacrifice himself? And what the Senju would never know that existed ONLY within the Uchiha was that Izuna volunteered his eyes to his elder brother before dying of his injuries, giving him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

He was consumed by the loss of his brother that he foresaw the Uchiha to one day be oppressed if they were to agree to an _alliance_ \- but the majority ruled, so he had no choice but to accept.

 _Or maybe there was even a small chance that he still cared about Hashirama as a friend like when they were children that he had to relent. But Tobirama was another story entirely._

As boys, Hashirama and Madara decided to build the settlement of their dream on the very same spot the mountain overlooked - which now had the current five Hokage faces carved in - and that dream became a reality after years of battling. But things were about to get worse when it came to the seat of Hokage. The Uchiha still were never trusted, and it was Hashirama chosen - and he was persuaded by his younger brother to make _him_ the right hand rather than Madara, his longtime friend and rival, which brewed the fire that made the Uchiha declare his vendetta.

Shunned by his own clan, he left the village for trying to restart the flames of war...but he returned with a vengeance, and with the Nine-Tailed Fox at his command. He came back to release his wrath on the village that shunned the Uchiha.

 _"I won't forgive anyone who dared to hurt MY village." Hashirama said "my", not "our". He lost hope in his friend that day at the Final Valley where the battle took place. "Not even a close friend, a student - or my very own child."_

This decision led to the way the system worked now - and her brother and husband had suffered it, but they were not the only ones. She herself had lived away from it nearly all her life. But either way, this village was built on the foundation that Uchiha and Senju came together to share ideals, for the good of the people in it. It was a cornerstone that created order out of chaos, maintaining it. Made peace a reality...but gave rise to darkness that Itachi was forced to bear.

Madara saw this coming from the beginning. Hashirama shouldered the guilt of starting this. _But a Shinobi can change._

Sasuke understood it now: Shinobi are those who endure in order to achieve their goals. And in this case, if Madara released the Infinite Tsukuyomi, everything that Hashirama and Itachi - and Madara's younger brother - had striven to protect would all be for nothing.

Hanaru saw it all in the eyes watching - even Orochimaru. "My brother inherited your will," Sasuke told the First Hokage, "without the two of you exchanging any words." His eyes betrayed the memories he had of Itachi when they were children, the encounters and their final fight against each other. _He must also be thinking about me and Ren._

Sarutobi must also be thinking about his failed efforts to open negotiations with the Uchiha. For him to be too old to remain in office and let Danzo do much of the work was hardly excusable, but it was nowhere near the way his own student, Orochimaru, turned out. _And you should have killed him when you had the chance._

Her father, Minato, was in regret for dying so early, because he would have prevented all of this himself. Now she found herself wishing the same, after all. But...would she still have been with Itachi the same way as they'd been before he died? If not, their son wouldn't be here.

Itachi stood between the village and the clan, was made to kill his own parents, and joined Akatsuki to be an insider while pretending to be one of them. He endured being a rogue ninja and kept watch over them. He even delayed capturing her little brother, protecting him like he protected Sasuke.

 _Even in death, he still protected the village and those he loved._

Sasuke understood it all. Her brother-in-law must still hate the village for causing his brother such pain. He hated Danzo and killed him out of revenge, even when the man said he loved his village and would protect it no matter what dirty means necessary.

"Before my husband died," she whispered finally, "he still said he was proud to be a Leaf Shinobi." She looked down at the baby. "And he wished that his own son would grow up far better than he ever was."

Now this brought smiles on all sides - especially, surprisingly, Sasuke and Tobirama. The latter then brought up Shisui Uchiha and his ancestor Kagami, both being among the few Uchiha not possessed by hatred and devoted to Konoha. The mentioned deep love could have positive results.

Sasuke made his decision then and there - and Hanaru couldn't have been happier. A weight lifted off her being. She could see things getting better now, when the war was still far from over.

"We head to the battlefield. I will NOT let the village and Itachi become nothing."

It was decided then. All of them would head to the battlefield - except her. "Hanaru," her brother-in-law said, "find someplace to stay safely away from the fighting." She nodded and accepted, but as they were all leaving, with Sasuke's satisfaction and decision made, she found herself swarmed with all the attention - especially her son.

"My grandson," Minato noted proudly, all of them now being atop Hokage Mountain for the view of the village to bring back some good old memories. "Kushina would have been just as happy as I am." He even got to hold Ren himself, followed by Sarutobi who did agree with Itachi - currently back in the afterlife - that he would one day be greater than his father.

"Oh, ha, the first ever half Uchiha, half Uzumaki ever - and of course, Senju runs in his blood," Hashirama boasted, shocking her as she never knew this. She didn't know what to think now.

He had said that the Uzumaki and Senju clans were distant cousins. Why wasn't she ever told this? Why didn't Jiraiya? It didn't matter now. "He's going to be a god someday," the man told her, putting a finger to the baby's cheek, to which he winced a little and looked up at the one who was calling him what Hashirama had been touted. Ren grunted and reached for that finger, then looked up when Tobirama found it in himself to gaze over the familiar face and dark hair - but the blue eyes belonged to the mother.

"I would have said that half an Uchiha would have been burdened with his clan's curse...but on the other hand, I could be very much wrong."

 **Whew, to watch the episode for this and then bring it to life with Hanaru. XD Reviews appreciated.**


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